My turkey hunting mentor used to tell me stories of his hunts over the years. Some of them are pretty darn hilarious and I thought I would share one with you guys. This happened well over 30 years ago. Back then he was having some hard times. I don't know how you're going to take it but here goes.

He was standing on a ridgetop right before daylight when he heard a gobble below. He cranked out a series of calls and it answered back. He called again and it was coming closer. He got ready and steadied his gun when this white turkey appeared in front of him. He thought what the heck?

He lowered his gun and this turkey walked right up to him. He thought, well my huntin is done so he got up and started walking back to his car. He looked behind him and this white turkey was following him. The turkey followed him the whole way to his car. So he said the heck with it and shot him. It weighed 30 lbs and he said it was the best eatin' turkey he ever had.

I've got one. Although the story doesn't involve an actual hunt, it happened at Turkey camp and is a real hoot nonetheless...

My father has always been one to stretch the truth a little and as he's gotten older his ability to embellish has kept pace. He is now 75. Our Missouri camp is four guys, two fifth wheel trailers and the farmer lets us use a very nice pole barn for base camp at the lease. It has a full service bathroom with hot and cold running water and a shower. Other than that, your basic large pole barn.

A couple years ago during hunt week, we met a friend of my father's for dinner (I'll call him Tom). His friend's lease was a couple hours farther south so we met at a restaurant that was halfway. During dinner, Tom asked "what kind of place do you have at your lease?" Dad replied, "Oh you should see it, it's just like a KOA campground...showers, a kitchenette, washer and dryer." Jack, Bob and I all just looked at each incredulously, each of us thinking to himself, why does he do this? Just because he knows Tom will probably never see our camp?

When we got back to camp that night, we ended up playing cards in Jack's trailer where I bunked. At the end of the night, Dad forgot his camo hat and left it on a doorknob in our trailer. The next morning, Jack, Bob and I were all having breakfast at 5:00 a.m. when Dad burst in and demands, "Who's got my hat?" Without a moment's hesitation, Jack says, "Did you check the washer and dryer?" OMG. You could have heard us howling on the next ridge as we spit up coffee and high fived each other across the table. Dad never said a word as he snatched his hat off the doorknob and slammed the door behind him.

In all the years we have hunted together, it's the only time I've ever seen Dad go to the woods without so much as a sip of coffee, let alone a donut or something. By that afternoon he was able to see the humor in the situation and how he set himself up for it.

Still gettin' a lot of mileage out of that one...

[:D]

"The joy of living is his, who has the heart to demand it." Teddy Roosevelt

Well, here's another one. By the way his name is Jim. When he hunted fall turkeys he always used a 243 rifle. He would sit on the point of a mountain in one spot from dawn to dusk or until he got a turkey, because he knew when the shootin started below they would always end up where he was. He always took one sandwich and a bottle of water. He only carried 4 shells with him.

Well anyhow he was hunting there one day and saw a turkey about 120 yards below him. Did I mention he was a GREAT shot? He pulls and and lined up on it and shot. It dropped right where it stood. So as he was walking down the mountain to retrieve his prize, the turkey started flapping its wings and went farther down the mountain. When he caught up to it he thought he would shoot it in the head while it was laying there. Well he missed and the turkey started flapping away from him again.

He caught up to him again and pulled up to shoot at his head again and missed. By then he was getting frustrated and had only 1 shot left. After the shot the turkey did that flapping again. By the time he caught up to it he was shaking so hard he shot and missed it again. Then the turkey went behind a big oak tree. When he looked around the tree at the turkey it went around the tree again. He thought to himself "How am I going to get it?"

He looked around and found a stick about 3 inches around and thought, "I'll fix him." He took his hat off and shook it around the one side of the tree and the turkey came out the other side where Jim was waiting and he smashed it on the head. He later found out that when he shot the first time, it broke both legs of the turkey.

He swears this is a true story. I found it quite humorous as I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.